On July 4, 1970, a group of 110 runners, now known as the "Original 110," completed 6.2 miles through the city of Atlanta in what would go down in history as the inaugural Peachtree Road Race. Today, the AJC Peachtree Road, organized by the Atlanta Track Club, is a citywide tradition of 60,000 amateur and professional runners, attracting some of the world's elite 10k runners, and is the largest 10K running event in the world. And that's not all, the AJC Peachtree Road race also includes a wheelchair race.

​Registrants (age 10 & older) can sign up as an individual or as part of a team. If you are interested in participating in the event with family and friends, groups of up to 10 people may enter the lottery as a team. Each member of the team must register during the lottery window, March 15 - 31, to be included in the lottery. No one can register or be added to a team after lottery registration closes. During the selection process, if a "Team" is selected, everyone in the group will receive entry into the event with each individual within the "Team" being placed in the appropriate start wave based on their finish time submitted during registration. On the contrary, if a "Team" is not selected, no one in the group will receive an entry.

Once registered for the lottery, your registration status will be listed as:

Pending Lottery - you are registered for the AJC Peachtree Road Race Lottery. You are not yet confirmed in the race.

On April 2 your status as a lottery registrant will change to one of the following:

Regardless of the day or time of registration, all individuals and groups who enter the lottery during the eight day period will have an equal chance of being selected for the AJC Peachtree Road Race. Entrants will be randomly selected after the lottery closes on March 31. All lottery entrants will receive an email by April 3 informing them of whether or not they were selected for the event. Searchable results of the selection process will also be posted on atlantatrackclub.org and AJC.com/peachtree on April 2.

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​A day after Atlanta hosted the finest marathoners in the country at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Marathon, runners filled the streets of this city once again as more than 13,000 participated in the Publix Atlanta Marathon, Half Marathon & 5K. Wrapping up a celebration billed as America’s Marathon Weekend, the race attracted runners from across the country on a running tour of Atlanta on a picture-perfect day.

​Five of the six men and women who finished on the Trials podium – the first six runners on Team USA – acted as official starters for the race on Sunday morning, with women’s champion Aliphine Tuliamuk, Molly Seidel, Sally Kipyego, Abdi Abdirahman, and Jake Riley shouting words of encouragement to the runners on Marietta Street as the sun rose over Atlanta.

From there, the races wound through Atlanta, with participants ultimately crossing the same finish line that saw Olympians crowned just one day before.Benjamin Kopecky, of St. Louis, Missouri, won the men’s marathon in a time of 2:29:49. Kopecky opened up a sizable gap and won the race by nearly five minutes on the course that traveled through Edgewood, Martin Luther King National Historic Park, Piedmont Park, Grant Park, the Atlanta University Center, and underneath the Olympic Rings and Cauldron structure from the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

​“It’s a notoriously difficult course and I love running hills,” Kopecky said. “I’m actually trying to complete marathons in 50 states and so today was state number 33. It was a fantastic weekend overall, and I don’t think we could have asked for anything better.”

In the women’s race, Abigail Cember from Philadelphia, PA, ran 3:00 on the dot to take the victory. She led from start to finish, hanging on over the hills at the end of the course to keep the win in hand.

“The atmosphere was awesome,” Cember, in town to support her Philadelphia Runner Track Club teammates in the Trials, said after her race. “Atlanta has had so many friendly vibes. I was leading for most of the race so I heard a lot of people screaming out ‘girl power!’”

In keeping with the Olympic theme of the weekend, 2016 Zimbabwean Olympian Pardon Ndhlovu won the half marathon in a blistering time of 1:07:17 – more than five minutes faster than last year’s winning time on the same course.On the women’s side, Nina Zarina of Arlington, Virginia and originally from Moscow, blazed her own speedy time, running a 1:16:14 to take the victory.“I was worried that Atlanta would be very hilly,” Zarina said. “But it was like a running party here. It was wonderful because I had inspiration from before from watching the Trials and then I had a chance to run in the same city and put into action your inspiration.”The half marathon featured three other notable Olympic legends crossing the finish line as well.

​Four-time Olympian Meb Keflezighi was the first of those, as he spent the morning pacing the 1:40 half marathon group to a time of 1:39:37. The former Olympic marathoner noted that in previous years he would have found himself running the tangents at the Trials the day before, but this year was excited to “give high fives and keep them going to their goal.”The next Olympian across the line was three-time Olympic gold medalist Gail Devers, who raced her first-ever half marathon and ran a 1:53:54. Known previously for her sprinting and hurdling prowess, Devers trained with the Club’s In-Training program and pushed herself to an 8:41 average mile this morning. She had company from another 1996 Olympian – shot putter John Godina, who finished in 2:02:03. The two-time Olympic medalist ran his first half marathon in his return to the city that saw him win silver in 1996.

The first race of the morning was won by Craig Lutz, a two-time NCAA All-American in the 10K for the University of Texas who was in Atlanta to watch the Trials. The 27-year-old blazed a 15:09 to take the win over Nicholas Turco from Boulder, CO. On the women’s side, Ellyn Atkinson ran a 17:52 to take the victory in a tight race over Jacquelyn Abanses, who was six seconds behind.As the day came to a close, so too did America’s Marathon Weekend, which began on Thursday with the America’s Marathon Weekend Experience, saw more than 600 children cross the Trials finish line at the Publix Atlanta Kids Marathon, crowned six Olympians, and then celebrated distance running in all of Atlanta. The weekend, which allowed Atlanta Track Club to intertwine elite racing and citizen distance running, brought tens of thousands to downtown Atlanta over the course of three days.

“America’s Marathon Weekend was created to bring together every member of the running community in a way that has never been done before, said Atlanta Track Club Executive Director Rich Kenah. “As the final finisher of the Publix Atlanta Marathon crosses the finish line, we’re excited to see the impact of this weekend on Running City USA and on this city’s Olympic future.”

​Voting opens today for the annual AJC Peachtree Road Race T-shirt Contest in which five Atlanta-area graphic designers are vying to have their artwork featured on the coveted AJC Peachtree Road Race Finisher’s Shirt.Throughout March, everyone is invited to AJC.com/peachtree and vote for their favorite design. The winner will be revealed at the 51st Running of the world’s largest 10K on Saturday, July 4, 2020.Artists were encouraged to incorporate the theme of this year’s race: Move Forward with Atlanta.

​​“We are excited to kick off the next 50 years of the AJC Peachtree Road Race,” said Rich Kenah, Race Director of the AJC Peachtree Road Race. “But a new chapter for this race can’t begin without its most sacred tradition, the AJC Peachtree Road Race T-Shirt Contest.”

​“The AJC Peachtree Road Race is so much more than just a 10k – it represents an important moment of community pride and one of the things that truly define Atlanta,” said AJC Marketing Vice President Amy Chown. “The t-shirt is something all wear with pride since the only way to get one is to cross the finish line”.

Nearly 200 designs were entered into this year’s contest. The finalists were chosen by staff members from Atlanta Track Club and the Atlanta Journal Constitution, as well as select participants of the Peachtree. The winning design is a closely guarded secret until the moment the first finisher crosses the line on the Fourth of July. The surprised winning designer receives $1,000 from the AJC and has their name forever written in the Peachtree history books.

​Voting is open through March 31 and anyone may vote once per day. Registration to participate in the AJC Peachtree Road Race opens March 15 and closes on March 31. Atlanta Track Club members receive guaranteed entry into the race. All others must enter into a lottery.

The AJC Peachtree Road Race is a 10K event that takes place every Fourth of July in Atlanta, Georgia. The first Peachtree was held in 1970 and featured 110 finishers. The AJC Peachtree Road Race is now the largest 10K running event in the world with 60,000 participants. The AJC Peachtree Road Race is perhaps most famous for the coveted AJC Peachtree Road Race T-shirt, which is handed out to all the event finishers. For more information on the AJC Peachtree Road Race visit peachtreeroadrace.org or AJC.com/peachtree. ​

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